I do not reject peace, but I am afraid of war disguised as peace.
Cicero 43 B.C.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Pakistani Madrasses: Islam's Fortresses. An Interesting Update

A note from Radarsite: Today, December 12, 2008, according to my Stat Counter, this Radarsite article has just been picked up from Pakistan [see below]. Why this four month old article about Pakistan has been retrieved from Pakistan today is just one of the many mysteries of this mysterious machine. One can only wonder what our "Interesting Readers" are thinking as they read this particular piece. - rg

"the incubator of personalities that later lead Muslim society to extremism and violence."

In early July 2008, Asif Zardari, leader of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP), delivered a keynote speech to the 23rd International Socialist Congress in Athens, Greece, in which he noted that the madrassas in Afghanistan and in Pakistan's tribal districts and the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) are turning out to be strongholds of Islamic fundamentalism and religious politics. Zardari made these statements against the backdrop of the fact that campaigns for the February elections had taken place in mosques and madrassas in the NWFP.

In the speech, he added that his party's government would review the curricula of madrassas in Pakistan and that any content preaching extremism and violence would be removed. Madrassas, of which there are some 20,000 in Pakistan, are Islamic seminaries, usually established by a cleric of some importance who also manages the madrassa's resources, which come from voluntary contributions. Madrassas owe their allegiance to various Islamic schools such as Sunni and Shia. Sunni madrassas also adhere to different doctrines, such as those of the Deobandi, Ahle Hadith and Brelvi schools of thought. Depending on their doctrinal leanings, individual madrassas are aligned with different federations, the most prominent of which are Wafaq-ul-Madaris al-Arabia, Tanzeem-ul-Madaris Ahle Sunnat, Wafaq-ul-Madaris Shia, and Rabiat-ul-Madaris al-Islamia. Wafaq-ul-Madaris represents the Deobandi school of thought, and has the largest number, an estimated 10,000, of Pakistani madrassas under its control.

The number of madrassas in Pakistan grew rapidly during the 1980s, and their alumni, the Taliban, fought the Soviet "infidels" in Afghanistan. However, since 9/11, the role of Pakistani madrassas has come under international criticism, especially for their enrolling foreign Muslim students and for their training of a new breed of Taliban that is destabilizing the democratic government in Afghanistan and providing safe havens to Islamist militants. The madrassas' ideological role in producing extremist worldviews in Pakistan has worried many, especially after the suicide bombers in the July 2005 London bombing are reported to have attended Pakistani madrassas. An editorial by a leading Pakistani newspaper described madrassas as "the incubator of personalities that later lead Muslim society to extremism and violence."

Over the years, successive Pakistani governments have tried to introduce curricular reform in the madrassas. The only forum for the government to negotiate with the privately run madrassas is the Ittehad Tanzeemat-e-Madaris Deenia, an alliance of different federations of madrassas. It was through this forum that the government of outgoing Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf tried to get the madrassas registered with the government. However, this drive for madrassa registration did not get far; although several thousands did register, the government still had no control over them.

The role of the madrassas was highlighted again in July 2007, after the female students of Jamia Hafsa and male students of Jamia Faridia madrassas – both controlled by Islamabad's Red Mosque clerics Maulana Abdul Aziz and Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi – occupied a government building for several months in Islamabad, directly challenging the authority of the Pakistani government. The stand-off led to a military operation in which Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi and dozens of madrassa students were killed. However, this did not diminish the role of the madrassas. Madrassas have continued to function autonomously across Pakistan, unregulated by the government despite Musharraf's promises to reform them.

The Madrassas are the Guardians of Pakistan's Ideological BordersAsif Zardari's Athens speech was severely criticized by religious groups in Pakistan, many of which operate also as political parties. Qazi Hussein Ahmad, the Emir of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, said that Zardari's speech mirrored President Musharraf's speeches of the past few years, in which the Pakistani president tried to court the West. Ahmad said that Zardari and other Pakistani leaders should stop hurling abuse at madrassas and cease their attempts to term Pakistan the land of terrorists. He also accused Zardari of adopting President Musharraf's pro-U.S. ''thought, tongue and agenda.''

Hasan Hammad, the Karachi unit head of Islami Jamiat Tulaba (Organization of Islamic Students), which is the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, said that the government was planning to change the madrassa curricula at the behest of the U.S. He said that any attempt to reform the madrassa curricula will not be tolerated, as the madrassas are Islam's fortresses.

Dr. Mumtaz Ali Memon, deputy emir of Jamaat-e-Islami in the Sindh province, warned that before initiating action against the madrassas, Zardari should learn from the fate of past Pakistani leaders, that were never successful. He said that the madrassas are the guardians of Pakistan's ideological borders. Similar responses to Zardari's criticism of madrassas were voiced also by religious and political leaders, representing a dominant theme in Pakistani thinking.

Long before Zardari's Athens speech, the role of madrassas in Pakistan had already been debated inside Pakistan and internationally. Pakistani responses to the international criticism stem from anti-Western feelings and from a popular commitment to the ideology of Islam as the basis of Pakistan's foundation. Thus, even a sport like cricket is seen as a conspiracy by those opposed to madrassa reform. In early 2008, an attempt to organize an inter-madrassa cricket tournament was condemned by the Wafaq-ul-Madaris al-Arabia as a conspiracy against the madrassas.

The madrassas are seen as defining the contours of Pakistani society and nation. Qari Muhammad Hanif Jalandhari, Secretary-General of Wafaq-ul-Madaris al-Arabia, joined the debate on the madrassas, stating that both students and ulema have a role in defending the ideological and geographical borders of Pakistan. A few days after making this statement, Jalandhari called a press conference in Karachi where he criticized Asif Zardari for his Athens speech, accusing him of engaging in propaganda and threats against the madrassas. He also asked the government of Pakistan not to blacklist the foreign students enrolled in the madrassas. He added that at this time the geographical integrity of Pakistan was in danger and that the military, religious and political leaderships should unite to defend Pakistan instead of creating divisions by talk of changes in madrassa curricula.

Former Pakistani prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain stated that the madrassas are the ideological military camps of Pakistan. He added: ''There is no teaching of any type of extremism and terrorism in madrassas. None of these baseless allegations aimed at defaming the religious madrassas have proved to be true.'' Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, whose Pakistan Muslim League (Q) party has supported President Pervez Musharraf for almost a decade, added that the madrassas are the world's biggest non-governmental organizations, with an enrolment of over two million male and female students from the poorer sections of society. Terrorist Threats Emerging from Madrassas in Sindh, Punjab Provinces

The growth of Taliban-led militancy and the series of suicide attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan have drawn international attention to the role of the madrassas in Pakistan's tribal region, on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, in the North West Frontier Province and in the tribal districts, or the federally administered tribal areas (FATAs). However, reports have also mentioned ''Punjabi Taliban,'' namely, madrassa students from the province of Punjab going to the tribal districts and to Afghanistan to fight U.S. and NATO forces. Around the time when the Jamaat-e-Islami leaders were criticizing Zardari's speech, the Minister of Law and Parliamentary Affairs in Pakistan's Sindh province, Ayaz Soomro, noted that several madrassas in Sindh were involved in terrorism.

The madrassas' role was a statement made by Maulana Siraj-ul-Haq, the Emir of Jamaat-e-Islami in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) on August 11, 2008, in which he threatened to engage in jihad from Karachi, the capital of the Sindh province, to Chitral in the NWFP if the U.S. launched an attack on the tribal districts and put its ''unpious feet'' inside Pakistan. Significantly, Maulana Siraj-ul-Haq made the statement during an annual session of Jamiat-e-Tulaba Arabia, an organization of madrassa students, located in the town of Mardan in the NWFP. Recently, there has been growing concern over the Talibanization of Karachi, the capital of the Sindh province. In an address to a conference of madrassa students and ulema in Karachi, prominent Sunni scholar and leader of Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat Allama Ali Sher Haideri underlined the role of ulema , saying: ''It is the duty of the ulema to put their lives in danger in order to preach and propagate Islam.'

Responding to this concern, Sindh's Home Minister Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza noted in mid-July 2008 that many new madrassas are established in the province and the government is in a state of alert. In the Punjab province, the government is also aware of the threats originating from the madrassas. It reviewed the role of the individual madrassas and their connections with the Taliban this year. In July 2008, it declared 80 madrassas in the province to be dangerous, and has now ordered regular monitoring of extremist activities in them. The 80 madrassas identified by the province government as having the potential to challenge the government's authority like the Islamabad Jamia Hafsa and Red Mosque madrassas are located in the districts of the province as follows: 12 in Lahore, one in Sheikhupura, one in Gujranwala, two in Sialkot, 14 in Rawalpindi (twin city of Islamabad), seven in Attock, one in Chakwal, four in Faisalabad, four in Jhang, one in Toba Tek Singh, three in Multan, three in Sahiwal, one in Vehari, [seven] in Khanewal, one in Lodhran, six in Bahawalpur, eight in Rahimyar Khan, and four in Bahawal Nagar.

Inspector General of Police in Punjab province Shaukat Javed stated that Um-e-Hasan, the wife of the Red Mosque cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz, is training girls enrolled at her Jamia Hafsa madrassa in Islamabad to be suicide bombers. In the NWFP's Swat district, at least 26 madrassa students disappeared recently, and are believed to haven't been taken by the Taliban to train as suicide bombers.

*Tufail Ahmad is the director of MEMRI's Urdu-Pashtu Media Project.http://www.memri.org/

----------------------------------------------------------A note from Radarsite: What the United States and its allies can actually do about the growing number of dangerous madrasses in Pakistan is at best problematic, and depends on circumstances over which we may have limited control. But we must do what we can to support those who want to see them severely restricted and governed, or done away with completely.

However, what we can do here on our own shore is quite a different matter. We must -- absolutely must stop the proliferation of Muslim culture in America. This means curtailing the building of any new mosques, or the forming of any more madrasses. Furthermore, we must either closely monitor all of the Muslim activity in these seditious beehives or, better yet, close them down immediately. Need we point out yet again that Islam is a Political Movement in the guise of a sacred religion. We have already allowed them to infiltrate our vulnerable free society to an alarming degree, and someday if we don't wake up in time we will pay dearly for this gullibility.

Of course, a good half of this sorely conflicted nation of ours will try their best to make defensive measures such as these all but impossible. Under the banner of free speech and tolerance we -- that is, our liberal leftists -- are allowing our enemies to gain a precious foothold in American society. We are growing the next generation of jihadists right under our noses, here in Boston and New Jersey, and Dearborn; and we are not just permitting this to happen, we are actively promoting it.

If we truly cannot see the danger in our midst, if we continue down this deadly road of denial and delusion, then perhaps we justly deserve our awful fate.- rg

7 comments:

It looks like the Pakistani Madrasses are reading your blog. Or at least some one associated with them is.

We cannot stop the Madrasses in Pakistan, but we can control them in the US. It is time that we take a good hard look at what they teach and the message they send to young men and women regarding the West. We must put an end to the fervent hatred that is taught in these schools. And if they are sponsored by the government here, then they either change their curriculum to suit a more enlightened view or face a total shut down by the authorities.

To Iftikhar Ahmad --Your Islamist propaganda has been deleted here (and elsewhere) before, and it will be deleted here once again. Radarsite will not be a platform for open debates on the pros and cons of Islam, or a venue for disingenuous pro-Islamist diatribes. Islam is the enemy, and if you defend or support Islam then you too are the enemy.If you have any questions about our clearly stated and strongly-held anti-Islamist convictions I invite you to read Radarsite's "Mission Statement" on the sidebar. - rg

Any key word you declare in the tag box will stick out like a sore thumb to the web spiders. Likewise heading tags, named anchors and external links.

When some Muslim in Pakistan or wherever is looking for a Madrassah to send his brat to, articles like this one are included in the search results even if they ain't relevant.

Readers could also be students or government officials.

In spite of pitching millions down the rat hole, we can do nothing about the curricula of Paki Madrassahs. We can convert them to ashes & rubble or ignore them. If Zardari tries to, he'll have a revolution on his hands.

Nuthin we can do about the Madrassahs over here, neither. Their text books are in Arabic. Can you read them? I can't. Who can, and will they give you an honest report? How long will that take, how much will it cost, and when they promise to reform, how will you verify it?

"Congress shall make no law..." So long as some damn fool says "Islam is a religion of peace", those Madrassahs in Virginia and elsewhere, no matter how infamous, are under the umbrella of first amendment protection and there is nothing you can do about it.

Before anything can be done,the Constitution must be amended to recognize the fact that Islam is a war machine, not a religion.

Now is the time to sign the Outlaw Islam! petition and send its link to your Representative & Senators. I linked to a blog post with the evidence linked to source for verification; it has a link to the actual petition for your signature. Only 91 people have signed it.

This is a grass roots movement, Roger. It must grow from the roots; we are the roots. Now is the time to erect a stem and pop some leaves out.

Sign the petition, copy the blog post and paste it into an email. Send it to everyone you can hope to influence and ask them to follow suit.

Amending the Constitution won't be easy, and it will take decades to accomplish. Until then, the Madrassahs keep right on inculcating hatred & inciting violence while we sit here impotent.

Next week, the General Assembly will vote on the amended draft of the Combating Defamation of Religions resolution. That resolution, if carried out, would make this blog post a criminal act. Of cuss, it is contrary to the first amendment. Do you think that will stop Obama from implementing it? Better think again!!! Withdraw from the UN! Only 102 have endorsed that petition. It starts with us. Each one teach two. If you break the chain, nothing good will happen.

Passion, persistence & perseverance are required. If you don't have them, who will?

Roger, the bots get you in the database, the Paki's curiosity opens the database, they find you, and they read. I get hits from all over the world, incl. Asia & Arabia. 5/9 hits to the open letter to E.C. were foreign origin.

To Ben -- Therefore, in summation, although we have taken circuitous routes we arrive at the same conclusion: the Pakistanis are indeed reading these articles. To me, how they found them is of secondary importance.rg

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I'm sure I've inadvertently neglected to include some brave female warriors in this small tribute, and for this I apologize.If you would like to suggest a site to be included on this list please email me (from my bio) or leave a comment and I'll be happy to make the addition.rg

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